Manchester United announced the signing of centre-back Matthijs de Ligt from Bayern Munich on Tuesday evening, assigning him the No.4 shirt ahead of the start of the new Premier League season.
He became United’s third signing of the summer transfer window and was swiftly followed by the arrival of Noussair Mazraoui, who has also made the switch from Bayern.
United have already added their profiles to the first-team squad page on the club’s website, with their kit numbers attached. Mazraoui has taken the No.3 shirt.
De Ligt has taken the vacant No.4 shirt after most recently being donned by Sofyan Amrabat, who spent last season on loan at Old Trafford from Italian side Fiorentina. He joined the club on the final day of last summer’s transfer window and United had the option to turn his temporary stay into a permanent one.
However, the Morocco international struggled to nail down a regular place in Erik ten Hag’s plans and the option wasn’t triggered. His loan deal officially expired on June 30.
More than six weeks on, Amrabat’s profile is still on the first-team section of the club’s website. They have amended his profile since De Ligt’s addition to the squad was confirmed, removing ‘4’ from above his name rather than removing his profile entirely now he is back at Fiorentina.
Amrabat is pictured on the club website wearing this season’s home kit, despite it being released after his loan had expired. As reported by the Manchester Evening News last week, it is understood the photos for the new campaign were not recently taken.
Amrabat admitted after the FA Cup final victory over Manchester City in May that he would like to stay at the club. He said: “Do I already know what I’m going to do next year? No. We are going to talk.
“Staying is certainly an option. Look, I think it has been a very difficult season. For Manchester United it needs to be much better, and also for me personally.”
United remain determined to add a holding midfielder to their ranks ahead of the transfer window closing later this month. The prospect of re-signing Amrabat has not been ruled out.